Rector
Major Announces Salesian Strenna for 2018
“‘Sir, give me this water.’ Let us cultivate the art of listening
and accompaniment.”
(ANS – Rome – July 27) - The water of life, which
only Jesus can give, and the Salesian focus on the education of youth are the
central themes for the 2018 Strenna: “‘Sir, give me this water.’ Let us
cultivate the art of listening and accompaniment.”
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| Fr. Fernandez with young people (ANS) |
During the summer session of the general council,
Fr. Angel Fernandez Artime presented the strenna’s theme and guidelines. Following
long tradition, he will present the strenna in detail toward the start of the new
year.
The topic emerged from consultation and dialog with the advisory board
of the Salesian Family in Turin last May when the leaders of the different
groups that make up the Family gathered to celebrate the solemnity of Mary Help
of Christians.
“The phrase that synthesizes the strenna,” writes Fr. Fernandez, “corresponds
to the heartfelt request that the Samaritan woman makes to Jesus at Jacob’s
well. In her meeting with him, the woman feels that she has been listened to,
respected, and appreciated; and so in her heart she feels impelled to ask for
something even more precious: ‘Sir, give me some of that water...’ (the water
of life to the full that you’re offering me).”
Following the central theme of this gospel passage, and in the context
of the forthcoming Synod of Bishops (“Young People, the Faith, and Vocational Discernment”), Fr.
Fernandez intends to explore “the importance for our whole Salesian Family and
its mission in the world of cultivating the precious arts of listening and
accompaniment, with conditions that need to be ensured, the demands and the
service that are involved in both listening and accompanying, in the process of
personal, Christian, and vocational development.”
Fr. Fernandez intends to take his reflection further by considering 5
points:
- a meeting that cannot leave us unmoved: the meeting between Jesus and
the Samaritan woman as a model of relationships with the young;
- a meeting that moves a person further: like Jesus, one must first seek the
good in others and, as experts in humanity, to help in necessary discernment;
- a meeting that transforms a life: after the example of Jesus, who
listens and accompanies, it is necessary to support a pedagogy of processes;
- what pastoral action do we have in mind?
- in the company of the Samaritan woman.
Fr. Fernandez detailed some of his thoughts about listening and
accompaniment in an essay presenting the strenna to the Salesian Family—which is
not the commentary that will develop these ideas at much great length at the
end of December, leading into 2018.
Here is his presentation:
PRESENTATION OF THE 2018 STRENNA
Rome, July 16, 2017
Feast of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel
“Sir, give me this water” (John 4:15)
LET US CULTIVATE THE ARTS OF LISTENING
AND ACCOMPANIMENT
Synthesis:
a summary of how the strenna will be presented when sent out at the end of this
year. I begin by saying that this is not
the commentary on the Strenna 2018; here I limit myself to offering some hints.
The phrase that synthesizes the strenna
corresponds to the heartfelt request that the Samaritan woman makes to Jesus at
Jacob’s well. In her meeting with him, the woman feels that she has been
listened to, respected, and appreciated; and so in her heart she feels impelled
to ask for something even more precious: “Sir, give me some of that water” (the
water of life to the full that you’re offering me).
Following
the central theme of this gospel passage, we would point out, in the context of
the coming Synod of Bishops (“Young People, the Faith, and Vocational Discernment”), the importance for our whole Salesian Family and
its mission in the world of cultivating the precious arts of listening and accompaniment,
with the conditions that need to be ensured, the demands and the service
that are involved in both listening and accompanying, in the process of personal,
Christian, and vocational development.
I.
A MEETING THAT CANNOT LEAVE US UNMOVED
The
starting point for our reflection must be the calm and meditative reading of
the gospel passage that we know as “the meeting of Jesus with the Samaritan woman”
(John 4:3-42); a meeting that then becomes the icon to refer to in order to see
how the Lord relates to her, the sort of relationship he establishes, its
results, and the consequences that the meeting with him has in this woman’s
life.
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| Source unknown |
There came a woman of Samaria to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give me
a drink.”
(For his disciples had gone away into the city to buy food.)
The Samaritan woman said to him, “How is it that you, a Jew, ask a drink
of me, a woman of Samaria?” (John
4:7-9).
Jesus
is in a situation in which he is powerless and vulnerable in the face of a practical
need. To the Samaritan woman he is a foreigner, he is thirsty, he does not have
a bucket to draw water, and the water in that deep well is out of his reach.
On
the other hand, as far as one can tell from the story, the woman – to put it
mildly – has a doubtful reputation, living in an “irregular” situation.
In
addition, between Jesus and the Samaritan woman there is the barrier of
well-established ethnic and religious conventions. According to the customs of
the time, it is reprehensible behavior for him to ask water from this woman.
In
this situation, from our point of view, we can observe something very
interesting: a secular place, a well in the open countryside, that becomes a place for an encounter with God.
Jesus,
the real protagonist and leading person in the encounter, in the listening and
the opening dialog, “has a plan” for conducting this meeting, beginning by listening to the other person and the situation,
which he knows intuitively.
For
us nowadays, this process of LISTENING
is a real art. “We
need to practice the art of listening, which is more than simply hearing. In
communication, listening is an openness of heart which makes possible that
closeness without which genuine spiritual encounter cannot occur.”[1]
This
process of listening begins with a meeting that becomes an opportunity for
a human relationship freely entered, “with a respectful, compassionate gaze that also
heals, liberates, and encourages growth in the Christian life.”[2]
When
a meeting happens in this way, among other things listening:
Ø fosters openness
toward the other person;
Ø implies giving one’s whole attention to what the other person may be saying and making a
conscious effort to understand what the person wants to communicate;
Ø accompanies with
real interest the person and what is being sought and expected;
Ø sets to one side one’s own world, one’s own situation,
in order, as far as possible, to draw
close to that of the other person.
Ø Listening, to put it briefly, is the art that requires giving careful attention to a person, his
or her struggles, weaknesses, joys, sufferings, and expectations; in fact, we
do not limit ourselves to listening to something; rather, we are attentive to
someone.
Ø This listening, when it
refers to personal spiritual accompaniment, goes beyond the psychological dimension and acquires a spiritual and religious dimension, because
it takes us along pathways on which one is waiting for Someone.
Ø Our gaze as educators turned
in a special way to young people and also to the life of their families, gives
us reassurance that there is much that is positive
in every heart;[3] and there is a need to
bring out this positive element through the patient work of paying attention to
ourselves, to openness to others, to listening and reflection.
This listening ought to lead us to understand
properly the needs of young people nowadays, and sometimes the needs of their
parents, or of those people with whom we come into contact through our ministry.
In fact, young people approach us not so much in search of accompaniment as,
rather, because of the pressure of their needs,
when they find themselves facing doubts,
problems, emergencies, difficulties, conflicts, tensions, decisions to be made,
problematic situations to be coped with.
And,
in general, they make an approach if there is someone who takes the first step
by showing an interest in them, approaches them, and has time for them. Sometimes
these casual meetings can become the doorway opening onto a more serious journey
that leads to growth.
This
is what happened in the meeting between Jesus and the woman who had gone to the
well simply to draw water.
II.
A MEETING THAT MOVES A PERSON ON FURTHER
Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is
saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have
given you living water.”
The woman said to him, “Sir, you have nothing to draw with, and the well
is deep; where do you get that living water?” ...
Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will thirst again,
but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst; ...
“Sir,” said the woman, “give me this
water that I may not thirst.” (John 4:10-15)
*
As a master of wisdom and an able conversationalist, Jesus makes use of all
that words can offer – expressions and gestures – to make contact with people.
ü He asks questions, discusses, explains, tells stories,
pays attention to the way the person he is speaking to sees things, make
suggestions, affirms, provokes a reaction.
ü He helps the woman face up to the real situation she is
in and to her evasive replies; even with regard to her delicate position – as
she says in the following verses – “I have no husband.”
ü Jesus is not discouraged; he does not give up when
faced with the initial resistance.
ü The conversation helps her clear up some ambiguities, reveal
herself in an honest way; the enigmatic and provocative replies draw the woman
closer, she grows in trust, and in her surprise she really wants to have what
can make her life better.
*
Jesus, who is seeking what is best for the other person, the one he is speaking
with, rather than pronounce a moral judgment of disapproval or reproach
establishes a personal relationship.
ü Instead of accusing, he discusses and makes a
suggestion.
ü His language, his words, are addressed to the heart of
the one he is speaking to.
ü In conversations (in practice, on this occasion with
the Samaritan woman), he speaks calmly, without haste in presenting himself as
the one who can change her life, in order to awaken gradually in her the desire
to be able to have access to a spring of water that promises a special,
different, better life.
*
As an expert in humanity, Jesus shows himself to be attentive and full of
interest in the inner world of those he is speaking with; he reads their
hearts, studies them, and knows how to interpret them.
These
attitudes of the Lord make us understand the importance of the gift of discernment.
In
the Church’s tradition, the exercise of discernment has been applied in many
different situations: for example, discerning the signs of the times, or
discerning in view of acting in a moral manner, or spiritual discernment in order
to follow a path of Christian life to the full, or again, spiritual discernment
when it is a question of one’s own vocation or choice of life.
In
all these cases, dialog with the Lord and listening to the voice of the Holy Spirit
are essential; there are some basic
(fundamental) prerequisites, however, that make further discernment possible.
§ The starting point will be what leads the individual,
the young person, the married couple, or one of them, to feel the need to give
meaning to his or her life, to make it significant. It is in this situation
that one becomes aware that something is not really going well.
§ When one does not feel well, is not living harmoniously
and does not find real and full meaning in what forms part of himself, or of
the “us” in a marriage or a family, the situation can arise from an “existential
void,” which often leads to personal disorientation and frustration.
§ In the societies in which we are living that make us live
our lives on the outside, as though we were in a glass case, without any
visible limitations or defects, without the right to be old or to grow old,
because “that is in bad taste,” more than ever there is need for an education
that encourages depth and an inner life.
These
are all situations that can stimulate, encourage, or assist with discernment, and
one needs to undertake every process of discernment, as Pope Francis proposes
in the letter in preparation for the Synod,[4]
by recognizing, interpreting, and choosing.[5]
- RECOGNIZING,[6]
in the light of what the Spirit inspires.
ü To have clarity in the high and low moments of life; in
the periods of a real interior struggle that can occur.
ü To help bring to fruition all the emotional qualities
that a person may have, and give a name to what one is experiencing or what we
find present in ourselves.
ü To capture the “flavor” that I find in the consonance or
dissonance between what I experience and what is in the depth of my heart.
ü All of this enlightened by the Word of God on which
one should meditate. Putting at the center the person’s ability to listen and
even one’s affective nature, without being afraid even of silence.
ü Taking up everything as part of the journey of growing
to personal maturity.
ü That is, understanding what the Spirit of God is
calling someone to do through what is stirred up in each one.
ü Interpreting and being interpreted is a very sensitive
task that requires patience, vigilance, and even a certain knowledge. It is
necessary to be aware that social and psychological conditioning exists.
ü It will be necessary to face up to reality, and at the
same time not to be satisfied with the minimum, nor deal only with what is easy;
being aware of one’s own gifts and possibilities.
ü Naturally this task of interpretation cannot be
developed in a believer, in a Christian:
§ without a real dialog with the Lord (a dialog such as
the Samaritan woman had with Jesus).
§ unless all the capacities of the person are engaged (acting
in such a way that what happens is not unimportant, as occurs in the heart of
the woman in conversation with Jesus).
§ without the help of an experienced person in listening
to the Spirit (who, in the case of the gospel passage was Jesus himself guiding
her).
The time then comes when the individual, the young person,
the wife or husband – whoever – has to decide, exercising authentic human
freedom and personal responsibility.
The Samaritan woman had to decide for herself
whether to ignore Jesus and continue her life as though nothing had happened in
that meeting, or to make the decision to allow herself to be surprised by him
and involved to the point of going to call her fellow townsmen because that man
had reached the depths of her inner world.
ü
The choice that is made when
discernment is carried out in the light of the Spirit, very often brings a
person freedom, and at the same time demands coherence in life.
ü
For this reason, it can be said that
to encourage people, and in a very special way young people, to make life
choices that really are free and responsible is the final aim of every serious
process in the faith journey and in personal growth (and in any vocational
ministry that one can imagine).
Discernment – the Pope tells us – “is the main tool which
permits safeguarding the inviolable place of conscience, without pretending to
replace it,”[9]
precisely because “we have been called to
form consciences, not to replace them,”[10]
following the example of Jesus who in his conversation with the Samaritan woman,
accompanies her on the journey toward the truth and her own inner life.
III.
A MEETING THAT TRANSFORMS A LIFE
Just then his disciples came. They marveled that he was talking with a
woman, but none said, “What do you wish?” or, “Why are you talking with her?” So
the woman left her water jar, and went away into the city, and said to the
people, “Come, see a man who told me all that I ever did. Can this be the
Christ?” They went out of the city and were coming to him. ...
Many Samaritans from that city believed in him because of the woman’s
testimony, “He told me all that I ever did.” So when the Samaritans came to
him, they asked him to stay with them; and he stayed there two days. And many
more believed because of his word. They said to the woman, “It is no longer
because of your words that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves, and we
know that this is indeed the Savior of the world.” (John 4:27-30, 39-42).
n
The Samaritan woman enters the scene
in the gospel as “a woman from Samaria,” and she leaves it having come to know the
spring of living water in such a very personal way that she feels the need to
run and tell her own people what has happened to her, and through her witnessing there are many who then approach
Jesus.
n
To those whom he meets, as in this
case the Samaritan woman, Jesus does not offer more things to think about or to
get to know, but rather a way to grow and change their lives. Even “Jacob’s
well,” a symbol of the wisdom that comes from the Law, loses its value and is
replaced by living water (by the spring).
n
The image of God that comes through in
the meeting with Jesus is not the image of a god unmoved, distant, philosophically
cold. On the contrary, Jesus reveals him as the God who gives life, who can be
called Father, who does not cut himself off, seek to control, or possess, because
he is Spirit (worship in Spirit and truth).
n
The conclusion of the meeting goes
beyond what one might have expected for a normal ending, that the woman would
return to her ordinary life with the jar full of water. Instead, the jar, which
the woman leaves behind empty so as to go and call her neighbors, speaks to us
of a gain and not a loss.
Like
Jesus – accompanying
There are numerous biblical accounts which in the
first place tell the story of the accompaniment that God promises his people
throughout time.
On the boundary between the two Testaments, John the
Baptist appears as the first spiritual companion in the Gospels, first of Jesus
himself. John could bear witness and prepare the way because God had spoken to
his heart.
On so many occasions in the New Testament Jesus
makes himself a neighbor, a traveling companion, in order to communicate
himself and meet the people of his time in a personal way.
The meeting of the Lord with the Samaritan woman
helps us to see the way the Spirit of God can act in the heart of every man and
woman – that human heart which, because of fragility and its own sins, feels
quite often confused and divided, attracted by temptations and suggestions that
are varied and often contradictory.[11]
Faced
with this human dilemma, Personal
Accompaniment would appear to become an extremely valid means of the
Christian spiritual tradition, in the desire to help believers avail of the instruments
and resources that enable them to recognize the presence of the Lord, his challenges,
and his calls.
How
can we describe Accompaniment? As an
example, “like a kind of ongoing conversation between companions in order to Welcome
Life, accompanying life;”[12] a dialog
that has as its purpose the fostering of the relationship between the
individual person and the Lord, helping to overcome any potential obstacles.
As
with Jesus in every meeting, in every experience of accompaniment
there is need for:
ü a loving glance, like that of Jesus when calling the
twelve to their vocation (John 1:35-51);
ü an authoritative word, like that of Jesus in the synagogue
at Capernaum (Luke 4:32);
ü the ability to come close to someone. like Jesus with
the Samaritan woman (John 4:3-34, 39-42);
ü The decision to walk side by side, to become a traveling
companion like Jesus with the disciples on the way to Emmaus (Luke 24:13-35).
Therefore,
to accompany involves:
Ø
knowing the journey the other person
is making, the point at which she has arrived and where she is going, in order
to be able to walk with her;
Ø
ensuring that there is a meeting that is an opportunity for a
relationship that is human and humanizing and not utilitarian;
Ø
a listening attitude (once again reference is made to the art of
knowing how to listen!), that makes it possible to know and understand where
the other person is coming from, the journey he is on, the situation he is in:
of sorrow, lack of hope, fatigue, searching, etc.
Ø
It is also always a matter of a
meeting of mediation, because the real Companion is the Holy Spirit.
Ø
The one who accompanies as the traveling
companion has to become the witness to
and the proclaimer of the action
of the Spirit in the person accompanied, but in a quiet way, staying at his
side, content to occupy one’s allotted place and not another one. In truth the
spiritual companion is molded in the fundamental
experience of being first of all met by Him.
Ø
To discover the way in which God manifests
himself in our lives to the extent of surprising us as we are met by him.
Ø
The initiative will always be God’s; we need to show responsibility and freedom.
All
of this is undertaken by means of a
pedagogy of processes, which is so common in the spiritual tradition. “The
Christian life is lived in a progressive way, according to distinct degrees of
depth and fulness, and is always open to an ever greater development.”[13]
- Following processes that should not be forced either from within or
from without.
- To the point of becoming conscious of the process and
making it one’s own, given that it is the Spirit who unleashes it in each one.
IV.
WITH WHAT PASTORAL ACTION IN MIND?
This will be the final part of the strenna,
which I shall present fully at the end of the year, since it deals with the
pastoral application of what has been said so far. I shall refer to the strategic
(key) points of the pastoral method of the Church at the present time, and to
what is specific to our Salesian spirituality.
I intend to develop the following points, of which I indicate only some
possible headings:
n
Walking with the young, with
families, with fathers and the mothers, who need to follow this path. With those
in mind with whom the different groups of the Salesian Family in the world are
engaged in their mission.
n
Providing opportunities for all young
people, excluding no one, because the
Spirit is at work in each one.
n
With a religious or lay or
educational-pastoral community that feels itself responsible for the education
of the new generations.
n
In which the adults are significant and credible persons of reference.
n
With the appropriate means.
V.
IN COMPANY WITH THE SAMARITAN WOMAN. As Jesus
called his own followers, toward what goal would he be leading us today?
Angel Fernandez Artime, SDB
Rector Major
[3] “[In every
boy ... there is] a soft spot. The first duty of the educator is to locate that
sensitive spot, that responsive chord in the boy’s heart…” (BM 5:237, quoted in
GC 23, n. 151).
[4] Pope Francis, Young people,
the Faith, and Vocational Discernment.
XV Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops. Preparatory
Document and questionaire (Turin: Elle Di Ci, 2017), pp. 22-65.
[5] Ibid., p. 44, quoting EG 51.
[11] Pope Francis, Document of the
Synod. op. cit., p. 50
[12] Lola Arrieta, Aquel que acompaña
sale al encuentro y regala preguntas de vida para andar el camino: Apuntes provisionales (Barcelona:
Simposio CCEE, 2017), p. 11.
[13] Stefano de
Fiores, “Itinerario espiritual,” in Nuevo Diccionario de Espiritualidad
(Madrid: Paulinas, 2004), p. 755.
